Quartz pseudomorph after Apophyllite (RARE locality specimen)

Item Description

A remarkably rare locality specimen from the Antelope Flat locality in Custer County, Idaho. The only reason we know for certain that the specimen and locality information are valid is because it was collected by noted Idaho mineral expert, Lanny Ream in the spring of 2001. Lanny for many years published Mineral News, and was the go-to guy about Idaho minerals. Lanny stated to George that this particular specimen was, "one of the two best large crystal specimens, up until now it was one that was alternately in and out of the selection of the few I'm keeping for myself". We've only had one other specimen that I can remember from this locality, and this particular piece is almost certainly the superior of the two. A large, predominant crystal of what was formerly Apophyllite (the specific species isn't known) measuring 7.3 cm, along with a few additional Apophyllites have been pseudomorphed by drusy soft grey colored Quartz, with minor Calcite and attached matrix underneath. If you look closely, you can see that the larger pseudomorph is hollow inside, meaning the Apophyllite was completely dissolved away, leaving a "shell" or "cast" of Quartz in the shape of a pyramidal tetragonal Apophyllite crystal. A very fine quality and incredibly showy full cabinet-sized piece of this rare and interesting material.
Ex George Loud Collection No. 5576; 210 ID.2. George (born August 16, 1942) is a well-known mineral collector from Washington, DC and South Carolina respectively, and was a patent lawyer by trade for over 50 years. He assembled one of the great mineral collections in the U.S., comprising worldwide specimens, and in later years he sold the worldwide specimens to focus on minerals of the United States, specifically locality suites with an emphasis on amazing representation of species while still maintaining fine quality. The specimens remarkably range from micros to all the way up to large cabinets in size. We recently acquired most of his impressive 9000+ piece collection, and the VAST majority of these pieces will be offered here in the auctions, as we feel that everyone deserves and equal opportunity at acquiring these important, well-documented and fine quality specimens for their collections.
See: https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/george-loud for more information